Pelt

It's a clichéd one star movie but I'll give it two because of Amber Bollinger. She's hot and runs around in her panties in the woods. Now for the bad. The characters are so annoying you want them all to die. The plot has been done a million times before (see "Wrong Turn" for one example.) My only hope is that the writer and director never make another movie again. In fact, they should be ashamed of themselves for not having an original thought in their collective imaginations. It's rare you get a chance to make a film, so why give the world a boring retread? On the other hand, Amber Bollinger needs to make many more movies. She reminds me of a young Bobbie Phillips. Unfortunately, her character in this film is so annoying that no one other than a few pervy fanboys will remember her.

The filming was meh. The casting meh. The acting meh. Special effects meh. Overall the film was just that so, so. I do give it an A for effort though trying to be more than just a horror film full of hot teeny boppers with no brains. It has multiple attempts at some emotional moments, but then it goes back to the same old being chased here and there, but I do commend the effort. I'd say it gets a 3 at best, and thats because I round up. Most of that number is because of a brief moment between two characters that as I stated previous was at least an attempt to make this movie more than just ANOTHER horror movie. The acting and casting wasn't all bad, and Amber Bollinger is ridiculously attractive, like can't look away hott. Also something else I really appreciate is that there are no boobs, I mean I love boobs as much as the next guy, but anymore they have become their own character in horror films nowadays. They need to start calling them Whorror films really. But anyways that was a breath of fresh air to be honest.

Overall this is a netflix movie, that's where is currently resides, and rightfully so. It is mediocre in all aspects, leaves you with way to many questions like: Where did that person go for so long? What is the killer's motive? and so on. These are just a few examples of what i was left wondering.

NOT REALLY RECOMMENDED (Late night netflix movie to be played in the background.)

Pelt was a throwaway for me, a way to kill a few hours while doing something else, and I almost turned it off after the first five minutes, but I'm glad I stayed with it. Ultimately I put aside what I was doing and gave it my full attention.

Those who tuned out after the first five minutes can hardly be blamed. The movie tries very aggressively to make you dislike the characters in the opening sequences, which is inexplicable as the most effective and memorable horror movies set up the victims as real people so that you actually care about them (think "Audition"). Very bad move making the girls obnoxious cock teases and the boys frat-boy jerks -- I guess this was done to make you want to see them killed? To lighten up the savaging to come? Definitely a misstep, as the movie has lots of work to do to overcome that initial distaste -- it really opens like a revenge of the nerds type scenario, except without the nerds, only with the arrogant popular and beautiful snots.

But I hung with it and it quickly evolved into a tight little stalker flick, the characters shedding their one dimensional arrogance and actually assuming fairly human traits -- surprisingly human in fact. Of course the conceit of the plot is nothing new -- the stalkers are your typical back woods stalkers, and they are even doing what hick serial killers seem to most aspire to, but that doesn't really matter.

What matters most in a movie like this is watching a person or a small group be hunted and trying to deal with that situation, trying to survive. This movie does that remarkably well, and once the action begins will keep you engaged and interested, with more than the normal share of jolts.

I wouldn't be reluctant to suggest that you just skip the first 15 minutes of the movie altogether, as it's aggressively loathsome, and I suspect that's the reason that the movie has such a terrible rating. It might be a 3 for the first 15 minutes but it quickly becomes an 8 once the action starts.

1st watched 12/30/2021 - 3 out of 10 (Dir-Richard Swindell): Standard slasher film with standard beginning where a bunch of young free-for-all's get drunk, high, and plan a hike and time to stay in the woods. And, of course, there are sexy women - who are pretty much out to do no good, and than become part of the hunted. Why these type of movies continue being made and financed is beyond me, but I digress. The hunter is a huge axe-wielding type that has a thing for peeling the skin off some of his victims(Aka. Pelt). Since the characters are standard slasher film fare we really don't care about them. They try to make you care with a couple scenes where the music gets sympathetic-like, but it doesn't work. There are a couple interesting escape areas like a Ranger's post and a close-by highway but unfortunately neither are really used to their advantage by the hunted. I really don't have much else to say about this other than to avoid it. The acting wasn't terrible for these films, and the direction was not anything unique or special - we've had stories with crazed axe-wielders so that wasn't unique either. Actors....please stop taking these jobs, and portray something people would care about.

"Pelts" was a typical "hot twenty-somethings go into the woods and bad things happens" film. It was decently-made and could have been effective.

HOWEVER... the filmmakers made a huge miscalculation. During the 30 minutes of "character development," they made the protagonists -- three girls and four guys -- among the most revolting group of assholes I have ever seen on film. I am not kidding here, guys, it's one thing to make characters so revolting that you're rooting for the bad guys to kill them. Usually, that's because they're just annoying and we "know we're in a movie." But when you put characters out there that are so mean and sickening that you are rooting for the people they interact with to BECOME killers and kill them, you've done something special.

If they re-shot the first half hour and made the group more likable, this would be a FAR better film. But alas, we are left with that we have.

Also, to paraphrase the late Gene Siskel, "In a film like this, we deserve some nudity." The girls are hot, but remain fully clothed. And just to sort of "rub it in," the hottest girl -- Amber Bollinger -- does have a nice tank top on, but half-way through the film covers that tank top with a large bulky shirt which she wears for the rest of the movie.

Sheesh.